"Where is this?"
Su Chen opened his eyes, somewhat confused as he surveyed his surroundings.
Unfamiliar, vintage eaves, a down-filled bed, a wide bedstead.
Everything was so unfamiliar.
"Ugh, it hurts..."
Su Chen held his head, as memories continuously flooded into his mind.
The runaway truck, parents and former self who willingly offered their souls to the gods, the mysterious wizard.
A seaside town, fish merchants, well-off family.
He who transmigrated, a lonely home.
"Wizard, sacrificial offering from followers, I seem to have seen this scene somewhere before."
After a long while, Su Chen came to his senses, rubbing his head and falling into memories.
"No way, am I really transmigrated into that godforsaken game?"
Suddenly, his face turned pale, because he remembered the last time he saw this scene.
It was in the historical CG of his favorite game in his previous life, "Light of Truth," the first act of the wizard's rise, the fall of the gods.
The game was fun, but only in terms of gameplay.
And for the weak who genuinely lived within, it was like purgatory on earth.
"Panel."
Su Chen's face looked grim as he tried to summon the game panel.
[Name: Lor Rox
Age: 12
Constitution: 0.7
Spirit: 1.5
Spiritual Energy: 0
Witchcraft: None
Meditation Talent: Level 1.
Energy Points: 0 points, 0%]
"Thankfully, the game panel is still here."
Su Chen...no, Lor let out a sigh of relief, looking at his youthful hands, started contemplating the path forward.
"The seaside town I'm in is too remote, it will probably be at least half a year before a wizard comes to take over the Divine Hall and test for talent."
"What I need to do now is to gather enough energy points before the wizard arrives, to raise my Meditation Talent to level 5."
"If there's any left, then I should improve my constitution to protect myself, as for spiritual power, no rush to enhance it yet."
Energy points could improve everything shown on the panel, though the consumption varied.
And a level 5 Meditation Talent is the highest natural wizard talent an ordinary person can possess, quite sought after.
As for higher levels, it would attract a large number of wizards' attention, but usually, they'd end up on the wizards' experiment tables.
After being dissected and studied, they'd be turned into specimens, displayed in the hall as luxury items or sold for a good price.
"But before collecting energy points, I should first bury my original parents."
Lor rubbed his temples, got up, and walked out of the bedroom, surveying the surroundings.
This was a small European medieval courtyard, consisting of six rooms and a yard.
Outside the yard, there was a two-meter-high wall.
The six rooms included two bedrooms, one living room, one storeroom, one kitchen, and one bathroom.
In the courtyard, some salted fish were hung out to dry, emitting a slightly fishy smell, quite unpleasant.
Lor was about to head to the original parents' bedroom when he suddenly heard a knock from outside the manor.
"Knock knock knock~"
"Is Master Rox home?"
The voice was deep and rough, with an undertone of barely contained excitement and madness.
Lor stood in place silently for two seconds, sighed, didn't respond, abruptly changed direction, entered the kitchen, and grabbed a hatchet, hiding behind the storeroom door.
"Master Rox, are you home?"
"It's Barber, I have something to talk to you about."
The repeated calls reached Lor's ears, but he turned a deaf ear, only gripping the hatchet tightly, quietly standing behind the storeroom door.
Recalling the original memories left behind, he soon found information about the person outside the door.
Barber was a resident of a fishing village near the town, and the original often accompanied his parents to that village for goods, leaving a certain impression of him.
The man seemed to be over thirty years old, not particularly robust, but not too weak either.
In his current body, Lor was only twelve years old, with a constitution of only 0.7, definitely unable to confront him directly.
"Hope he's just here to collect my parents' bodies, and not to steal anything," thought Lor to himself.
If the Barber came to steal, finding him still alive, he might do nothing and just leave.
But it's more likely that he would kill him and take everything.
Lor dared not gamble, so he didn't respond and instead hid behind the storeroom door, leaving the choice to the Barber.
"It seems Master Rox has also been favored by the gods. Let me clean up the bodies for you."
Outside the courtyard, the Barber excitedly gripped the harpoon in his hand, ran to the wall nearby, first threw the harpoon over, then grabbed the wall edge and flipped over, entering the courtyard.
After that, he picked up the harpoon and walked straight towards the storeroom, not even glancing at the two bedrooms.
He knew very well that these wealthy families, unlike ordinary people, hide their money in the storeroom rather than the bedroom, just like the one he searched before.
Behind the storeroom door, Lor listened to the footsteps gradually approaching, his gaze becoming sharp, and he slightly raised the chopper in his hand.
Squeak.
The storeroom door was pushed open, and a middle-aged man, about one meter seventy tall, with slightly yellow hair and holding a harpoon, hurriedly stepped into the storeroom.
The moment he walked into the storeroom, his steps suddenly stopped, seemingly surprised at the abundance of salted fish stored within.
At this moment, Lor held his breath, swung the chopper upward, aiming directly at the Barber's neck.
Whoosh.
The sound of the chopper slicing through the air alarmed the distracted Barber, who turned his head to look.
But before he turned fully and could see what was behind him, a chop landed on his neck.
Blood spurted out, splattering all over Lor's face.
The thick smell of blood lingered at his nostrils, yet all Lor felt now was a rush of adrenaline, with no sense of perception.
He quickly ran out of the storeroom, shut the door tight, and held the latch firmly.
He wasn't sure how deep his chop was or how much longer the Barber could live.
But he was determined to hold the latch for the next half hour and go nowhere.
At first, Lor could still hear some noises inside the door, along with banging sounds.
But after just about two minutes, it became silent.
For the next twenty or so minutes, apart from the increasingly strong smell of blood wafting out, there was no sound at all.
"It should be resolved... ugh~"
As the adrenaline gradually cooled down, and smelling the pungent bloody scent, he suddenly gagged.
After a while, once he recovered, Lor pushed the door open a crack.
Inside the door, the Barber lay on the ground with eyes wide open, as if he died with regret.
"Really dead."
Lor breathed a sigh of relief, forcefully suppressed the nausea as he approached, intending to move the corpse into the kitchen for cremation, when he suddenly noticed the abnormal bulge at the Barber's chest.
He immediately turned back, picked up the chopper he had thrown outside the door, and lifted the Barber's shirt.
An inconspicuous burlap package came into view.
With a light slice at the burlap package with the chopper, a dozen glittering gold coins and a dozen silver coins immediately spilled out through the slit.
"Such insatiable greed!"
Looking at these shiny gold and silver coins, Lor sighed.
One gold coin could allow an ordinary peasant to live for five months.
One silver coin was enough for half a month.
The Barber had gained so much; if he had stopped, it would have been enough for him to live worry-free for the rest of his life.
But he still wanted more, resulting in him lying dead in the storeroom.
"I must take this as a warning, not to be blinded by greed, this world is dangerous."
Lor admonished himself inwardly.
Then he placed the burlap sack aside, dragged the Barber's body to the courtyard for cremation, then boiled water to take a bath, and buried the bodies of his original parents in the northeastern corner of the yard.
Cremating the Barber took a long time, but had to be done, otherwise who knew what weird reasons might cause him to resurrect in the future.
By the time all this was done, it was almost dark.
"Once I have energy points, I should first bolster my physique." Rubbing his sore hands, Lor changed his initial thought.
Perhaps because he burned a fire in the kitchen, no one came knocking on his door all afternoon.
This slightly relaxed his already tense mood of the entire day.
Taking advantage of the free time, he briefly inventoried his assets.
Counting what the Barber brought, a total of ninety-five gold coins, two hundred and eighty silver coins, and eighty-nine copper coins.
In total, there were a full one hundred twenty-three gold coins and eight silver coins, which was definitely considered wealthy.
"When tomorrow comes and the knights and barons of the Divine Hall, who believe in benevolent gods, react and begin to restore order, I can go acquire live fish containing trace elements."
Lor secretly pondered.
Acquiring live fish containing trace elements was for slaughtering to earn energy points, then making them into salted fish to sell to caravans to break even or even make a small profit.
An industrial chain could thereby form.
Within half a year, with some luck, he could at least raise his Meditation Talent to level five.